There is a substantial amount of prior art pertaining to building construction, and a great portion of this art is directed to prefabricated construction in which relatively large sections and/or panels are fabricated in a factory and are transported to the construction site. Obviously, this type of prefabrication requires heavy, very costly machinery to handle the sections and panels both in the factory and at the construction site as well as for the transportation of same from the factory to the building site.
The building construction of the present invention utilizes structural members rolled or formed of a relatively light gauge metal such as galvenized steel sheets. A single basic channel form is provided for all of the main structural elements, the wall studs, roof rafters and purlins. Some structural elements are cut to size from the basic channel form and others are formed by welding two or three channels together.
All of the structural elements may be prefabricated at a factory by simply cutting the individual elements to size from the channels, by welding them together, when necessary and by welding attachment cleats and plates to the various elements for assembly purposes at the building site. Therefore, all prefabricated elements may be easily handled by one man for truck loading and unloading purposes and relatively small trucks may be employed to transport the structural members to the building site.
A generally conventional concrete slab and foundation is prepared at the building site and the wall studs are fixed thereto by conventional means such as anchor bolts and the roof rafters, purlins, etc. are bolted together and to the studs by means of the cleats to complete a self-supporting skeletal frame for the building.
Exterior wall sections are inserted or constructed between each adjacent pair of studs, roofing or roof sheeting is applied across the flush top surfaces of the roof rafters and purlins and standard ceiling tiles are supported within the undersides of the rafters and purlins. All exterior window and door opening are formed between respective pairs of exterior studs by light gauge metal members, fixed in place by attachment cleats and welding and/or bolts in the same manner as utilized to connect the studs, roof rafters and purlins.
The building construction of the present invention is adaptable to buildings of various types and sizes but is particularly desirable to provide relatively small, low cost housing for persons unable to afford to rent or purchase conventional, expensive residences, the construction cost being approximately fifty percent of conventional construction.
Therefore, one of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide structural elements formed of a light gauge sheet metal which are preformed and provided with connection means for erection at a building site to form a self-supporting skeletal building frame in a very minimal number of man hours of work.
Another principal object of the invention is to provide all of the basic structural members for the skeletal frame in a channel form which, when cut to size, may be used singly or in welded together combinations of two or more channels for the exterior wall studs, roof rafters and purlins.
A further object of the invention is to provide un-reinforced concrete blocks as wall infills between each adjacent pair of wall studs or by using a dry construction sandwich paneling with an infill of expanded Polystyrene faced on both sides with asbestos cement, gypsum wallboard, metal sheets or particle board for example. A cement render may be applied to both the inside and outside surfaces of the wall infills.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide each adjacent pair of the roof rafters and purlins with confronting channel shaped openings whereby conventional ceiling tiles may be supported therebetween on lower flanges of the channels. Small H shaped or double channel members supported between the rafters or purlins may be used to assist in supporting the ceiling tiles where necessary.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a cleat connection between the rafters and purlins in a manner so as to achieve a level or coplanar condition between the upper and lower surfaces of said rafters and purlins whereby a roof sheeting of any type may be attached thereatop and the ceiling tiles may be supported on the lower flanges thereof.
A further principal object of the present invention is to provide a building construction which is approximately one-half as costly as the present day conventional construction.